BLM eager for decision

Appeals board reviewing proposed trade of Area 51

After learning that it could take a federal appeals board a year to issue a ruling on a controversial proposed north state land swap, the Bureau of Land Management's state director is asking board members to speed up their decision.

"We need a resolution to this matter one way or another," said BLM spokeswoman Jan Bedrosian.

BLM Director Mike Pool sent a letter to the board late last month, asking to expedite its review of the exchange.

In the swap, the BLM would trade a 216-acre parcel near Shasta off Victoria Drive known as Area 51 to a Humboldt County man for 566 acres in the Trinity River watershed. The trade has been opposed by people who use Area 51's matrix of trails for hiking and mountain biking.

The BLM started the process to exchange the properties in 2001, but ran into opposition and formal appeals by neighbors who want to see Area 51 maintained as public land. The board is weighing an appeal filed by the Coalition for the Preservation of Public Land late last year.

The coalition contends the BLM hasn't done a proper environmental review of the parcels and challenges appraisals of the properties. Area 51 is worth $900,000 and the stretch of forest along Grass Valley Creek is worth $763,000, according to a report done in the spring by a private appraiser from Oregon under contract with the Interior Department.

In moving for an expedited review of the appeal, the BLM said the board all but rejected the coalition's claims when it denied a move to stay the appeal in January. Pool also wrote that the delays in the process could deter others interested in land exchanges from dealing with the BLM.

The slow-moving process "creates a chilling effect on land transactions and is inequitable to the parties to the exchange," Pool wrote.

Joe Rice, who owns the Grass Valley Creek property, did not return a message left Tuesday morning. Brent Owens, a Redding developer who also is involved with the proposed swap, also failed to return a message.

Susan Weale, leader of the coalition, said she wasn't surprised by the BLM's move. She said the agency hasn't listened to her group's concerns throughout the process.

"They haven't softened their stance one bit," Weale said.

Reporter Dylan Darling can be reached at 225-8266 or at ddarling@redding.com.